Sunday, June 20, 2010

Climate change will affect Philippine sugar plantations

Michael Punongbayan in the Philippine Star: The vast tracts of sugar plantations in the so-called sugar capital of the country might not escape the harsh impact of the escalating climate change. Climate Change Commission (CCC) vice chairman Heherson Alvarez issued this warning yesterday, as he asked local government units on Negros Island to start implementing policies to promote environmental conservation to combat the effects of global warming.
Speaking at the culmination of the 10th City Environment Week celebration of Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, Alvarez urged local officials to find ways to thoroughly adopt green measures to fight the changing climate’s dangerous consequences.

Alvarez cited, for example, the implementation of efficient energy use in offices and homes; conservation of resources; garbage management; proper maintenance of vehicles; and establishment of eco-friendly buildings, among others, to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which causes global warming and climate change.

“All of us are now faced with a broad range of issues such as environmental survival. We are obliged to protect current and future generations of our country and the world,” he said. Alvarez said cities must urgently aim to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as strive to change the mindset of the people about the environment and its protection.

He stressed that people must have the moral outlook and discipline to immediately address climate change concerns. “The local government units must act and act fast to reduce their carbon footprint since the long history of and continuing carbon emission into the atmosphere is causing the world to become warmer,” he said….

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